


how long does the night last?

by macbethattempest



Series: intrépide [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Denial, F/M, Hurt, Past, Violence, domestic abuse, emgagement, present
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 07:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6973513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/macbethattempest/pseuds/macbethattempest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>and that night, at two days to Maria Hill's birthday // the past and the present</p>
            </blockquote>





	how long does the night last?

**Author's Note:**

> This is different from what I usually write.  
> I desperately NEED feedback on this one.
> 
> All the love.

_"Maria"_  
_No she didn't want to go back._  
 _"Maria"_  
 _She wanted to stay crouched in the closet where nobody could find her, nobody could touch her, where she was safe and sound and secure and where there was no wiped out dad and no liquor._  
 _"Maria"_  
 _She started rocking in the closet, whispering no no no no over and over to herself._  
 _"Maria"_  
 _Her teeth chattered._  
 _She didn't want to be hit again._  
 _"Maria"_  
 _Please._  
 _She'd bruise and her friends in school would get to know._  
 _They'd know._  
 _"Maria"_  
 _The voice grew closer._  
 _She trembled with fear._  
 _Please no no no no no no_

And the closet door blasted open.

\---------

"Maria"  
No she didn't want to come out.  
"Maria"  
She wanted to stay locked in the closet where Steve could not find her, Steve could not touch her, where her heart was safe and sound and secure and where there was no Steve and his love and his body and him  
"Maria"  
She started rocking on her heels, whispering no no no no over and over to herself.  
"Maria"  
Her teeth gnashed against each other.  
She didn't want to face him.  
"Maria"  
Please.  
He could hurt her and she wasn't capable of hiding that anymore.  
He'd know.  
"Maria"  
The voice grew louder, agitated, hurt.  
Her defences were all but gone.  
Please no no no no no no

And the room door blasted open.

\------

_She shivered with fear, her pupils expanding._

_There stood her father, against the closet. He'd always been a tall and well built man and even after consuming so much alcohol, apart from the little paunch, he was powerful._

_He yanked at Maria's hand and pulled her out of the closet._

_"Stupid bitch", he muttered under his breath._

_"What do you think you're doing inside?", he leered, getting into her face._

_Maria shrank back, the strong stench of alcohol emanating from his mouth unbearable._

_"I'm s-sorry", she stuttered. "I was just-"_

_"You were just?", her father bit into each word. "Go on finish it. Teacher's good little pet aren't you?"_

_"Were you hiding something from me?", he spoke, his face twisting in a grotesque way._

_"Tell me", he whispered._

_Maria swallowed._

_"TELL ME", her father snarled._

\------

She shivered with anxiety, her hands clenching.

There stood Steve against the backdrop of the broken door frame; tall and built like a linebacker, shoulders stiff and straight. He consumed a room. His power was palatable in the air.

He stalked inside Maria's room and approached her carefully. He stood in front of her fully, inches away and tenderly clasped her hand.

" _Jesus_ , such cold hands", he muttered under his breath.

"Why have you locked yourself inside?", he asked, tangling his fingers with hers, their intertwined hands held between them.

Maria solidified, the very scent of him inspiring fear in her.

"No reason", she replied nonchalantly, not looking at him.

"No reason", Steve repeated, something foreign creeping into his words. "That's all, ma'am?"

There was a pause.

"Are you", Steve cleared his throat. "Is something wrong?", he spoke, his face nearly burning.

"Tell me", he urged.

Maria swallowed.

"Tell me", he whispered.

\-------

_Her father suddenly looked down, his eyes training on her other hand, clenched fist, nerves straining._

_He snatched her hand, his nails digging into her skin._

_Maria clenched her wrist tight._

_She couldn't let her father see._

_He would get angry. Very angry._

_He seized her hand in a tight grip and roughly pried her wrist open._

_"You fucking bitch", he whispered._

_And then he slapped her._

_"Where did you get that?", he screamed._

_"Where did you get that money from?"_

_He crumpled that ten dollar bill in Maria's hand and threw it to the floor. Then he yanked her and shoved her on the floor._

_"Are you stealing things?", he roared, kicking her._

_Maria's eyes watered._

\------

Steve suddenly looked down, his eyes training on her other hand, clenched fist, nerves straining.

He gingerly picked up her hand, his callused fingers skimming her veins.

Maria clenched her wrist tight.

She couldn't let Steve see.

She had betrayed him. Or maybe he had.

He seized her hand in a tight grip and carefully pried her wrist open; smoothing his finger on each of hers and then gently yet firmly unclenching and opening them.

"Maria", he whispered.

"How did you get that?", he said, his voice closed.

"How did you get the ring; I kept it in a secure deposit."

He picked up the ring in Maria's hand and held it in the light to see. Then he slowly pulled her towards himself, their bodies melding together.

"Did you not like it?", he spoke, his voice hoarse. "Or would it not serve as an appropriate gift"

Maria's eyes watered.

\-----

  
_She'd brought this upon herself._

_She'd not stolen, no. She'd earned it._

_She'd sold a sweater of hers to a pauper and gotten the money; ten dollars._

_Her birthday was in two days._

_She'd never celebrated it before. But this time, after seeing one of her girls at school cut a cake and receive gifts, she'd wanted to._

_She wanted to cut a cake on her birthday in school too. Ten dollars for the one with no icing, she could get Ms. Nala, the waitress at Lime's who was very fond of her, to do it for free._

_But she'd been stupid. So stupid._

_Why did she get the money home?_

_Her father suddenly yanked her up._

_"You know what, bitch", he sneered. "No hitting for you today."_

_Maria's breath hitched._

_And then he caught Maria by the hair and dragged her to the living room._

_Maria screeched, her eyes watering with the pain._

_"Enough", her father shouted._

_He threw her on the couch and pinned her down with his knee._

_Maria froze. Moving only made things worse for her._

_And then she saw the half burnt cigarette coming towards her._

_Maria screamed like a banshee, her body writhing on the couch, attempting to get away. But her father was simply too strong._

_He held her hand up, pulled up her shirt and put the burnt end of the cigarette on her._

_Maria's torso rose up with the pain, her body shuddering, her mouth shouting of its own accord._

_And that night, at two days to Maria Hill's tenth birthday,_

_**she got branded.** _

\----

She'd brought this upon herself.

Why had she even let this relationship start? And now she wasn't ready. Not ready.

Because of love, a little voice niggled in her head.

She'd been looking for Steve's old and fake identity proofs and after not finding them anywhere, she'd finally checked his secure deposit box.

Her birthday was in two days.

Steve had always, on all her birthdays, as per her staunch request, given her whatever she'd asked her, be it a shoe polisher or emerald earrings. This time, though, he'd kept it an unyielding secret.

She'd been insanely curious about the gift. So as soon as she'd seen the black pouch she'd been unable to resist and opened it, and seen an engagement ring inside.

But she'd been stupid. So stupid.

Why had she opened the pouch?

Further, why had she started loving Steve, in the first place?

Steve ran his fingers, gently, down her cheek, his touch the antithesis of what he was in bed.

"Maria", he spoke, his voice firm with conviction. "You need to see."

Maria's breath hitched.

And then he clasped Maria's hand and took her to the floor length mirror in her room.

Maria's eyes widened.

"What do you see, darling?", Steve spoke in the pit of her ear.

She saw herself, body taut, collarbone jutting out. She saw her eyes, widened with vulnerability, and she saw her stature, shaking in time.

Maria let out a choked breath.

And then she saw Steve, tall in the face of her fear, his head bent to her ear. She saw his eyes, the ones that looked at her like she was the only person in the whole world, the eyes that told her they'd protect her everyday to tomorrow, the eyes that wanted her to be his but be her own person.

Maria swallowed.

She saw his hands, the ones that made love to her, that held her, that supported her.

She saw _him_ ,

the person who _loved her_

the person who _she loved_.

And for the first time in her life, she felt no fear.

Maria's torso shuddered and she raised her right hand to his cheek, still facing towards the mirror.

"What if I asked for my birthday gift early?", she spoke, her voice lowered with hesitancy.

She felt Steve's breath hitch.

He spinned her towards him and pulled her towards his body, his and her form meshed into one, his lips at her lips, not doing anything,

just holding,

just feeling.

And that night, at two days to Maria Hill's twenty eighth birthday,

_**she got engaged.** _

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
